My wife and I, like Chris experienced the same thing with John Laing Homes. We were at a stage in the build where we did not have to pay for upgrades yet and as such have received our full deposit back.
Part of the process and issues are typical with any new home build:
- a contract that clearly favors the builder and gives the buyer little latitude and recourse
- option/upgrade pricing that is substantially higher than retail/aftermarket costs (however the builder always leads with "you can roll it into your mortage so the monthly cost is just a fraction of the cost of the upgrades...".). A smart buyer who understands the cost of financing should know better than to fall prey to this line of thinking...
- inflated pricing and false sense of "appreciation" while a builder still has future phases that are being built. The market might be dictating one thing regarding prices, but their "each phase costs x% more than the prior" pricing can create a situation of overpaying for your new build.
- If you want to resell while the builder is still building new homes in the same area, you will always lose on your selling price
For these reasons alone, we will likely never consider a new build again. I'd much rather buy a resale. It exists, it's completed, it's price point will be more favorable, and you can renovate for less cost than upgrading on a new home.
Specifically, with John Laing, we experienced:
- sales people that were not very knowledgeable and/or provided vague pricing estimates that were misleading
- numerous changes to our original close date - all told about 4 months
We were close to either walking away from our contract anyway (and our deposit) or renegotiating the price of the house based on market conditions (with a target reduction of at least 10% to the final cost) so in the end we are okay with the outcome. It wasn't without a huge investment of time and emotional energy however.
I wish all similarly situated individuals luck in their recovery efforts.
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